Tech Connect: Winners focus on the fundamentals

We have been encouraged by experts for years to use their techniques in organizing ourselves and our employees.

Unfortunately there really are no magic formulas or silver bullets. It is really about knowing and practicing the fundamentals of running your business.

One of those fundamentals is having control of your information flow.

It is an indisputable fact that any business, small or large, is totally dependent upon the timely flow of accurate information. Therefore, if you want to improve productivity, isn't starting with your information flow the logical place?

It takes very little capital - and just a little time.

In a small business, it is essential for the growth and health of the business to put in processes and procedures to control critical information. In small businesses, the owner is usually the hub for all information flow - if not all, then most.

The owner needs to put systems in place so that the employees can do what they were hired to do without relying on her or him.

Even in a small business, systemizing the business can seem too daunting a task to even start. However, it is very helpful to look to the old, reliable 80/20 rule to get started.

You just have to find that 20 percent of the information flow that is the most critical to the mission of the business. When this 20 percent is identified, and focused upon by everyone, the other

80 percent will find its own way.

I have found that once a business has more than four people involved on a regular basis, then the company's electronic records need to be filed in one place. If the company does not provide a logical place, bright people will begin to make their own electronic filing systems.

This leads to files being stored in logical filing systems on each PC. Logical to each employee, that is.

In a fragmented storage system, when something is needed from an absent employee's computer, there is usually immediate reductions in productivity. The important document may not be found, or if it is, a couple of things usually occur:

•  It took someone way too much time to find it - or not find it. While the search went on, other work did not get done.
•  It may not contain the most current information.

Outcomes like this kill productivity.

A file server is a proven way to bring order. A file server is the centralized storage place for all the company's electronic documents.

In these systems, everyone has access to the files that she or he needs to get assigned work done. To make this happen, the following systems must be thought out and designed:

•  A file storage using intuitive file names
•  Permissions to allow employees access to the folders containing the files they need
•  Passwords to protect the whole system.

The file server becomes the hub of the business's information system instead of one person. People use their passwords to gain access to the file server, and they have “permissions” to access the folders containing the files they need.

When they are done, their most recent work is then sent back to its folder. Thus, critical information moves in and out of the server in a controlled manner.

Once this basic step is taken, owners can move on to assuring that there are procedures/processes to route information through the right employees.

I must be clear here that a good paperwork system is critical to the success of the use of a centralized electronic filing system. In most businesses, small and large, moving information around on paper documents is still the source of data for the computer.

Good paperwork systems even form a backup system of sorts.

Some of you are saying, “But what about paperless offices?” The answer is that going paperless cannot even be considered without a good, centralized electronic file storage system.

You can't jump from fragmented electronic filing to paperless. Just can't happen.

If you are still hesitant to take the leap, at least take a look at how your employees are sharing files now. Are they emailing documents to each other? Sharing using flash drives?

Emailing changes to each other? Sharing written notes with each other?

None of these are substitutes for a centralized system. They are all non-productive ways to share information on a regular basis.

To implement this change, you may need to bring in outside help if there is not someone available internally. Even paying a consultant quickly will reward you with productivity paybacks.

An important side benefit is that the centralized files are all that need to be backed up.

When this is centralization is complete, you will have gained clarity about how your business really operates. And, because of that, you and the business will operate better.